Speyer’s Rainbow Room at 30 Rock shows signs of life

Landlord is seeking bids from restaurant suppliers with eye toward 2014 opening

Jerry Speyer and the Rainbow Room at 30 Rock
Jerry Speyer and the Rainbow Room at 30 Rock

The legendary Rainbow Room at Tishman Speyer’s 30 Rock is stirring once again, getting ready to come out of a four-year hibernation.

Tishman Speyer is looking to reopen the landmarked Art Deco venue by the end of next year’s first quarter and is soliciting bids from  restaurant suppliers, reported the New York Post, citing sources who declined to be identified because of confidentiality agreements. “Third parties” — not Tishman Speyer — approached the suppliers, the sources told the newspaper.

The restaurant, on the storied tower’s 65th floor, will be operated in-house this time; Tishman Speyer had leased the space to Cipriani but terminated the agreement in 2009.

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“It doesn’t even look like a management contract in the traditional sense,” a person familiar with the talks told the Post.“Rather, the Speyers’ plan is to run it themselves with the help of some top restaurant professionals hired for the job.”

Executives for high-profile tenants, including NBC and former parent GE, have talked about missing the exclusivity of the lunch club that the restaurant once had, sources told the Post. [NYP, 1st item]Hiten Samtani